Microsoft’s Cortana comes to iPad, ChromeOS devices to get Google Assistant

Last week, Microsoft released a version of Cortana for the iPad. Cortana is already available for the iPhone but has now been optimized for larger iPad screens. It also is reportedly “20 percent faster,” according to the release notes.

Cortana can do essentially all the same things that Google Assistant and Siri can do, though it doesn’t have the same level of access to iOS and Android devices as those native assistants do. However, Cortana can be set as the default assistant on Android devices.

Microsoft said last year that Cortana has more than 150 million users across its ecosystem, which includes Windows 10, Android, iOS and the Xbox. It also has an SDK strategy to extend the assistant to third-party hardware devices. Amazon’s and Google’s virtual assistants are also being built into third-party devices.

Cortana is available on Windows PCs, and Siri is integrated with the new MacOS. Now, the Google Assistant will potentially be coming to all Chrome OS devices (i.e., Chromebooks) in the not-too-distant future. The particular implementation (hotword vs. button) will be at the discretion of the device maker. The Pixelbook is currently the only Chromebook that features Google Assistant integration.

Previously, Google said that the Google Assistant is installed on more than 400 million devices. Apple later countered with the statement that there are 500 million active Siri users around the world. Amazon’s installed base of Alexa users is probably below 50 million.